Iraq: “The Ungovernable Country”?

An article this week by The Economist describes Iraq as “the ungovernable country“.

It says:

“The economy, meanwhile, is unravelling. The government gets most of its money from oil sales, but the price of the stuff has collapsed. Parliament passed a budget of 107 trillion dinars ($100 billion) for 2016—and projects a deficit of 24 trillion dinars. Officials are hoping for loans from the IMF and World Bank, but the political crisis threatens those, too.

“More than 70% of public spending will go to the salaries and pensions of 7m public employees, up from 1m under Saddam. Many sit at empty desks. Mr Abadi has cut the pay of some public employees. But others have been given raises, and politicians will not let him lay anyone off.“